1967 Kawasaki A1-R 250
No Reserve - Extensive New Zealand race history

Registration No: Un-Registered
Frame No: AB410575
MOT: Exempt

• The first of two A1-Rs imported new into New Zealand
• Extensively raced by three owners from 1967 to the 1990s
• Restored following arrival in Britain in 2009

• The Road and Race Collection

Kawasaki was at the forefront of two-stroke racing in the mid-1960s, and in May, 1966, it launched the A1 Samurai road bike, with a 250cc disc-valve twin. That was developed into the A1-R racer for the 1967 season, with a close-ratio five-speed, lightweight cylinders and 26mm Mikuni racing carburettors. Some 150 were built for private sale up to 1968, of which twelve came to Britain to be sold for £618. Weighing 240lbs., it was credited with producing 40bhp at 9,500rpm, and reaching 135mph. Kawasaki’s star rider Dave Simmonds rode one to fourth in the 1967 Lightweight TT and tenth in the overall championship.

This A1-R started life in New Zealand in 1967, with the Kawasaki importer Lauri Summers. Only one other A1-R was supplied new to New Zealand, in 1968. Summers sold it to Ian Veitch of Auckland, who entrusted its preparation to celebrated tuner Len Perry. He raced it with several successes, most notably in the 350 and 500 TTs at Pukekohe Park, but tragically he was killed in a crash on another Kawasaki 250 in the 1968 Isle of Man Lightweight TT. Perry then sold it in 1970 to another Aucklander, Barry Palmer, who participated in club racing before selling it to South Islander Allan Norfolk later in the decade.

Norfolk—a personal friend of Vic Awata, one of the A1-R’s designers—would own the bike for over 30 years, and continued racing it into the 1990s. He competed only on South Island circuits, such as a Ruapuna, Timaru and Wigram Airfield, and said: “I found it very useful on street circuits; the bike suited my style on rough-surfaced industrial areas, such as the waterfront of Dunedin… It never gave me any mechanical headaches at all.” He sold it in 2009 to collector and restorer Martyn Harris, who imported it into Britain.

Harris undertook some restoration of the A1-R, then it passed through another two owners before it was acquired in 2018 by our vendor, a collector of important historic motorcycles. Since then it has been on static display and will require recommissioning before use. It is to be sold with a history file notably including correspondence from Allan Norfolk. We note that Amal carburettors were fitted in place of the original Mikunis at some previous stage.

For more information, please contact:
Mike Davis
mike.davis@handh.co.uk
07718 584217